The Jesuits: History's Most Effective Special Operators - Dominican and Franciscan Missionaries to India, China, and Japan Seeking to Influence Different Societies, Proselytizer's Motivations

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this study examines the most successful Jesuit practices, creates a general model of their approach, and draws parallels to similar contemporary challenges to special operators. The Jesuits have made inroads to an astonishing number of societies, becoming firmly established in vastly disparate cultures. Sixteenth century Jesuit missions to China, India, and Japan appear to form a useful model for contemporary U.S. special operators seeking influence in infinitely different societies from their own. The practice of first establishing respect, then influence, and eventually working for religious conversion proved far more effective than the relatively forceful tack taken by Dominican and Franciscan missionaries.

CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION * A. SEMANTICS * B. SCOPE * CHAPTER II - INDIA * A. JESUIT EFFORTS * B. LESSONS FROM INDIA * CHAPTER III - CHINA * A. JESUIT EFFORTS AND RESULTS * B. LESSONS FROM CHINA * CHAPTER IV - JAPAN * A. JESUIT EFFORTS AND THE JAPANESE OUTCOME * B. LESSONS FROM JAPAN * CHAPTER V - MEANS, ENDS, AND ENDINGS * A. AN EXAMINATION OF THE MEANS * B. THE JESUIT SPECIAL OPERATIONS METHOD DISTILLED

The essence of missionary aim is to influence the behavior, belief, and ultimately, the ideology of disparate peoples in foreign lands. While the proselytizer's motivations are ostensibly benevolent, it is undeniable that the missionary goal is to modify, and to a large extent replace, existing cultural norms endemic to the objective population. Though there are clear and significant differences in the philosophy and ideology of church missionaries and modern special operations personnel, the two groups share the daunting task of garnering trust, respect, and influence in a foreign and potentially hostile culture. Likewise, church missionaries and special operators find themselves similarly positioned between an ideological arbiter, or parent organization (the Catholic Church in the missionary case, and the U.S. Government and/or U.S. Army in the Special Operations case) and the foreign population of interest. It is therefore useful to examine effective methods of cultural influence employed by missionaries in foreign countries to extract a functional cultural influence framework for special operations applications. In this context, the missionary activities of the Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, provides a particularly strong structure for exerting influence in vastly dissimilar cultures.

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